


Breathe in Deep

by floatingpetals



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Asthma attack, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Reader-Insert, bucky's protective, steve's like a big brother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 15:46:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16835671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floatingpetals/pseuds/floatingpetals
Summary: A requested story for a reader with asthma.





	Breathe in Deep

**Author's Note:**

> For anyone wondering, a breathing treatment machine is called a nebulizer and the medicine you use(or at least the kind I use) is albuterol sulfate.

Y/N couldn’t stop her yawn, a long, loud and jaw popping yawn. She spent all day on her feet, out in the heat with the sun bearing down on her. She wasn’t complaining though. It was Tony’s annual barbeque that he just had to throw for the team each year. He’d collect everyone, throw them in a jet and took them off to some undisclosed location where they’d spend the day relaxing in each others company and eating good food.

It was her first year with the team and was happy to have a break from the business of the team. Tony chose to take them off to Great Lake, Colorado and rented a private home on the lakeside. The house was huge, and she all but dragged Natasha through the hallways to find all the rooms. It had a massive state of the art kitchen, a media room with lounge chairs, two living spaces with at least six bedrooms and three bathrooms with giant garden tubs. Y/N never wanted to leave.

Tony, however, didn’t want them in the house the entire day and all but threatened them to stay outside. He didn’t want the day to go to waste, the only time they were allowed in was to use the restroom or grab something from the fridge.

Clint and Steve took over the grill, the stash of food Tony ordered was large enough for a small army and spent a good time there with beers and cooking the food. Y/N figured it was because the team seemed to suck massive amounts of food and Tony wanted to be prepared for anything. When they weren’t sitting around stuffing their face, the group was out at the lake, jumping off the small dock or taken out tubing on the boat Tony rented. It was a day filled with laughter, fun and loads of sunscreen. Y/N hadn’t been this happy in a long while, and from the look of the others, neither had they.

To top off the perfect day, Sam and Bucky set up the fire pit with a little of Steve’s and Thor’s help with the firewood. The sun had already begun to set and the air shifted cooler. Bucky hadn’t left Y/N without cover before he wandered over to the pit, draping a blanket over her back with a gentle squeeze to her shoulder.

It didn’t take them long to get a roaring fire started, and soon the entire team settled in around the pit. The smell of smoke and burning oak filled the air. Y/N frowned rubbing at her chest at the sudden tightness but otherwise ignored it. Bucky returned to settled beside her, a brow arched at her fingers rubbing at her throat.

“You good?” He asked with a touch of concern. His eyes flashed with the flicker of the firelight, looking her over with worry. Y/N smile and nodded.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” He seemed to struggle with her answer but didn’t press. Wrapping his flesh arm around her waist, he pulled her close to her side with a sigh. Y/N smiled and rested her head on his shoulder, taking in a deep breath. She didn’t want to make it a big deal, this happened from time to time with her asthma. She figured just a glass of water would help, it usually did.

Tony appeared from the house with two giant boxes of graham crackers, three bags of giant marshmallows and a box of 36 count Hersey bars. Natasha found the metal sticks for the marshmallows somewhere in the kitchen and soon everyone had their own sticks with marshmallows at the end.

“Can’t have fun without smores.” He grinned.

“What exactly is this we are trying to do?” Thor asked, his brows furrowed in a mix of concentration and confusion. Wanda giggled and helped show him what they were doing by setting up his own. His face lit up when he bit into the messy. “Another!”

The group laughed, and the sound of soft charter filled the space. Sam argued with Clint over the perfect brunt marshmallow to chocolate ratio. Natasha helped Bruce when he struggled with the quickly melting chocolate bars, laughing when a melted chunk fell in his lap. Tony was showing Vision the ‘right way’ of cooking the marshmallows, all while making a jab at Sam and Clint. Steve had settled on the other side of Y/N and was plucking off the near black marshmallows from the stick and eating them straight.

Y/N watched the group interact domestically with a fond smile. She might have only been with the group for a year, but they made her feel part of the family. When she and Bucky started dating two months back, it was like all the pieces fell into place. She was happy and for the first time in her life, she felt whole. She was so wrapped up in her thought, she didn’t notice when she took in a particularly loud breath, that was more of a wheeze than inhaling.

Steve and Bucky heard the soft sound over the fire and the others, their eyes widening in concern. Steve knew that sound, he had spent most of his childhood dealing with that.

“Y/N? Are you okay?” He set down the stick and turned to face her. Y/N shakily smiled, just now realizing how tight her chest had become. It was like someone twice her size had sat squarely on her chest and was squeezing the air out of her. Not wanting them to panic she tried to take in another breath, straining with yet again another wheeze.

“Y-yeah.” She croaked, gasping softly for air. Bucky knew that sound too. His heart rate picked up, tightening his hold on her waist.

“Doll. I don’t think you’re okay.” He interjected. Everyone had noticed the clipped tone and grown silent.

Y/N didn’t notice all eyes on her. The longer she took in the smell of the smoke and fire, the tighter her chest and throat felt. It hurt to breathe in air, the wheezing growing with each sharp shallow breath she took. Her vision started to swim, and she had to hold on tightly to Bucky’s arms in hopes to center herself. She didn’t even know she collapsed against his chest, not even when the team flew into a flurry of activity.

“Shit! Y/N!” Steve cried. Bucky reacted quickly and scooped her up in his arms, tilting her head back. He gasped in horror, her lips already turning a light shade of blue. Bruce was by his side, feeling at her neck, hissing when he felt her faint pulse. She was still struggling to breathe through, trembling in Bucky’s hold and wheezing through her parted lips.

“She’s having an asthma attack,” Steve said calmly, seeing all the signs. Bruce nodded, looking over his shoulder to the fire pit.

“She must have had a reaction to fire. We need to get her inside away from the smoke. I should have an inhaler in my bag.”

Bucky didn’t need to be told twice, tamping down his panic to pick her up in his arms and sprinted to the house. Steve was a step behind him, grabbing a glass of water as he went to the living room where Bucky laid her out on the couch. Bruce appeared a moment later, bag in one hand with an inhaler in the other. He passed it to Steve.

“Try to get her to breathe that in. It’ll give me enough time to set up a machine.” Steve nodded and helped her sit up, frowning at how shallow her breathing had become. While he struggled to get her to breathe in the medicine, Bruce pulled out a little machine with a long tube and plugged it into the outlet on the wall. Bucky absently wondered where Bruce kept it but was quickly brought back to worry about Y/N at her pained inhale.

Her eyes had fluttered open, though her gaze was distant and hazy. The inhaler helped a little, her chest wasn’t as tight as before. But the smoke still clung to her hair and clothes, and she could feel her lungs closing up again. Before she could begin to panic, Bruce covered her nose and mouth with a mask, maneuvering her to sit up on the couch. The machine hummed to life and like she had done so many years before, she sucked in air, breathing in the medicine that helped open up her lungs.

Bucky’s leg shook where he sat beside her, rolling his shoulders back as she took the long breathing treatment. His past was still fuzzy, memories few and far between. Yet he never forgot the same panic he had when Steve went through a similar attack. Back then he’d have to inject something into Steve to get him to breathe again. It always hurt Steve, and Bucky was grateful he didn’t have to put his girlfriend through that.

Y/N blearily took hold of the mask from Bruce and closed her eyes. She could already feel the medicine working, the side effects already starting to show with her trembling hands and racing heart.

“I gave you a double dose,” Bruce stated, closing his bag and slowly standing. Y/N nodded, mumbling a thank you to the man. “You know all about it, but you’ll shake like crazy and probably wouldn’t fall asleep anytime soon, but it’s better than the alternative. Don’t stop until the albuterol’s gone. I’ll go tell the others you’re okay.”

“Thank you, Bruce.” Steve nodded, relaxing into the seat beside Y/N. Bucky sent Bruce a tight smile and turned back to Y/N with a frown.

The hum from the machine filled the silence, Bucky still staring at Y/N as if she was going to stop breathing again. Frustrated, Y/N squinted at him from the corner of the eye.

“I’m okay Bucky.” She reached for him with her free hand, and gently squeezed his fingers. He scowled. “No really, I’ll be okay.”

“You stopped breathing, Y/N.” Bucky seethed. Steve sighed but didn’t interject. He had his own argument he wanted to have with Y/N, but that could wait. “You had a full-blown asthma attack that would have killed you if Bruce didn’t have your meds. Which by the way, why did he have that machine anyway?”

Y/N shrugged. “I’ve always had sport induced asthma, maybe he thought all the stuff we did early would trigger it? Either way, I’m glad he had it.”

Bucky grew still, his brows furrowing. He didn’t know why learning this caused a pang of hurt to lance through his chest. Quietly, he mumbled a reply. 

“I didn’t know you had asthma.”

“It’s not something I keep from people.” Y/N shrugged again, pausing at the flicker of hurt across his face. Her stomach dropped, and she realized how such small information could hurt him. Tightening her grip on his fingers, she tugged him closer. “Oh, Buck. I’m sorry. I didn’t think it was that important to you. I didn’t mean to keep it from you either.”

Bucky sighed, aware of how ridiculous he was being. It wasn’t something he ever noticed with her before, so it was something that ever needed to be brought up. She wasn’t affected by it daily. He pressed a kiss to her temple, taking in her smell. His brows furrowed at the lingering smell of smoke in her hair.

“After this, you should probably shower and change.” He mumbled, looking over at Steve who was browsing through his phone. “If you want to go back out, you don’t have to stay.”

Steve hummed, tilting his head in Bucky’s direction without taking his eyes off the phone. Locking the screen, he pocketed his phone and smile at Bucky.

“Nah, I was getting eaten alive anyways. Kind of want to try out that media room before we leave too.” He stretched out his arms, letting out a noise in the back of his throat. “I’m gonna shower first, then Buck you should. I don’t think she’ll be done for a while.”

He nodded to the mask, looking at the still full plastic reservoir. She giggled, taking in the three dramatic deep breaths.

“I’m sorry. I almost died Steve. Let me breath faster for you.”

Steve tipped his head back and barked out a laugh.

“We don’t need you to pass out. Just take your time.” He stood from the couch and waved over his shoulder before he went in search of the small overnight bag he brought. Y/N giggled and nestled into Bucky’s side. “I’ll set up a movie in the media room when I’m done.”

Things might have taken a sour turn, but Y/N was happy it wasn’t ruined. Bucky pressed another kiss to her head, warmth bubbling in her chest. Yeah, it was still a happy ending to an amazing day.


End file.
